DIRECT: Design choice/Newcastle Brown Ale

by KEVIN LAVERY, Executive creative direct, Marketing 02-Mar-00

Newcastle Brown Ale is, arguably, more famous than the city it comes from. It’s about a lot more than beer-drinking, football-watching Geordies.

Newcastle Brown Ale is, arguably, more famous than the city it

comes from. It’s about a lot more than beer-drinking, football-watching

Geordies.

The design of the bottle, and particularly the label, is now an

international icon of taste and quality.

The label design has changed very little since 1928, when it swept the

board at the International Brewing Festival and images of the medals it

won were added to the sides of the label. This was a year after its

launch.

Since then, the only real change has been the dropping of the word ’Ale’

(Marketing, January 6).

During the past 73 years, the brand has grown to straddle national and

social borders. Americans are as happy to drink it as draught beer as

yuppies in Soho are from the bottle.

Achieving this status is something only a few brands or designs achieve,

and its quality is why Newcastle Brown stands out as an icon of class,

be it in a chiller cabinet or on a football shirt.

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